He sees that the oriental instrument is not alien to the culture of his country

The Japanese lover of the oud: 20 years of playing its strings and still learning

Nawachika Sukabe is still exploring the potential of the big oud.

Emirates today

Despite what distinguishes the oud from being an oriental musical instrument, the Japanese player, Nawachika Sukabe, found in it the most capable means of expressing his feelings and thoughts, considering that he is still exploring more of the possibilities of the large oud instrument, despite his practice of playing it for more than one year. of 20 years.

In his interview with "Emirates Today", Sukabe added, "The oud is not foreign to Japan and its culture, as it is similar to the (Biwa) instrument, which enjoys great interest in Japanese culture, and the oud instrument is not entirely far from the Japanese people. (Biwa), and it is an instrument that is still very important in our culture, so the oud is not completely foreign to our people, as I knew the oriental oud when I was a teenager, and I had previously attended concerts for a number of artists, such as the singer Hamza Aladdin.

He continued: "I studied the history of European music and ethnological music in Cologne, Germany, and The Hague in the Netherlands. I also learned about the history of playing the oud, and what is meant here is the European oud, historically in the 15th to the 18th century, as oud players in that period left a detailed description of How to play this type of instrument, the Europeans only added some strings to the oriental oud, and played it without fundamental modification, so the playing technique passed through history, it is above all a technique to create a good sound,” noting that his study also touched on the effect of Modern technology in playing, but his main focus remained on the technique of historical playing on the oud.”

the beginning

About how long it took him to learn to play the oud, Sukapi mentioned that he has been playing this instrument for more than 20 years, and he is still exploring more of its possibilities, so he cannot say how much time he needed or still needs to learn, explaining that he was playing at first On the guitar, but he could not express all his feelings and thoughts through it, so he chose to play the oud to provide him with the ability to express what is inside him, because of its unique potential for musical expression and sound bandwidth.

It is noteworthy that the Japanese player considered that the great potential of the oud for musical expression was the most prominent difficulty he faced when learning to play it: “When you are good at different playing techniques on the oud, you can express almost all the feelings and atmospheres through your music, but at the same time The difficulty of this instrument lies in the great possibilities of expressing through it.”

Corona effect

On the impact of the “Covid-19” pandemic, on his work and in the field of art in general, the Japanese musician said that the music market has undergone drastic changes for a few years, and the pandemic has accelerated this change, considering that the new situation provides opportunities for all musicians to attract the whole world without being restricted. Fortunately, he noted that the impact of the pandemic on his artistic production was limited, but rather benefited a little from this influence, because three years ago he turned to focus on recording the musical works he presents and publishing them on the Internet.

Professional meeting in Abu Dhabi

The Japanese musician, Sukabe, expressed his hope that his music would spread around the world, stressing his happiness to participate in the International Oud Forum, which was organized by the Abu Dhabi Festival 2021, via video communication technology, as part of its 18th session, with the participation of elite oud players in the world, and was characterized by professionalism. and diversity.

Nawachika Sukabe:

• “At first I played the guitar, but I could not express through it all my feelings.”

• “You must pay attention to the details and small movements while playing the strings, until you reach the right tone.”

Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news